Demand justice for Nick Berg

I am so enraged I could scream. The images of those disgusting animals before they slaughtered an innocent American civilian makes me better understand how our military may find it hard to view some of the counterparts of this lowlife with anything better than loathing.

This was not retaliation for alleged prisoner abuse. Nick Berg was kidnapped before the pictures were released. This godless bunch decided to capitalize on the posturing of our politicians, seeing the divide as a sign of weakness.

I want to hear the same outrage from my fellow citizens, the media, and the politicians, that I heard from many of them after they saw the pictures of some detainees being blindfolded and kept nude. I wonder if Sen. Ted Kennedy now understands the difference between what several of our troops are accused of and real torture.

My prayers and sympathy go out to the family and friends of Mr. Berg, and those of all the men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq. Let's remember to whom we should direct our anger. Unite against this scourge against humanity and stop some of the senseless election-year bickering.

Will you demand an apology and justice for Nick Berg?

Gale Hulderman

Valley Ridge Court

It is simply sick to see Americans beheaded, burned, killed, and the bodies dragged through the streets. What the American soldiers did to their captives is a slap on the wrist compared to what is being done to us, the Americans. Sorry for putting your underwear on your head and handcuffing you.

I know what the Bible says, but an "eye for an eye" sounds pretty good to me right now. If no one else follows the Geneva Convention rules on treatment of prisoners, why should we? It is time to rewrite the story on treatment. Times have changed and so must we. Let's get the Iraq prisoners out of jail, take them to trial, and give them exactly what they deserve. Let them go or execute them.

Dale Perne

Talmadge Road

We are at war for heaven's sake. Yet we are held to a higher moral standard than anyone else in the world. It is OK for our citizens to be beheaded, or have their bodies dragged behind vehicles and mutilated, but don't embarrass prisoners under our control. It violates their rights.

What rights? They are terrorists whose only aim is to kill us! If Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton had done their job right during the Iran crisis and tried other than appeasement to the murderers in Nigeria and elsewhere, the bombing of our embassies, the USS Cole, the sleeping Marines at the barracks in Lebanon, atrocities against American citizens would never have happened. We have such short memories.

Wait awhile and we'll forget again. Then another attack against us. You don't deal with bullies and criminals with timidity. Ronald Reagan, and going back further than that, Teddy Roosevelt, had the right idea. Speak softly and carry a big stick. Instant and massive retaliation bullies and terrorists understand. We must bargain from a position of strength and not hastily pull out of Iraq. Remember, they started this war against us.

We must do whatever necessary to finish it and bring terrorism against us to an end.

John Huff

Douglas Road

"I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time." How many of us can honestly say that we never told our parents we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, when we'd been caught doing something we knew we shouldn't have done?

"I was just following orders. Persons higher up in my chain of command (told me to pose for the pictures)." And, she was dumb enough to do it. They say a picture is worth more than a thousand words. In this case, there will never be enough words to erase the images seared on the minds of the world.

My granddaughter serves in the same army as PFC Lynndie England. Though we don't always see eye-to-eye on decisions she makes (she, too, is just 21 years old), I pray that she would disobey such orders.

Right is right. Wrong is wrong. The actions taken by all involved with these disgusting pictures were totally wrong. They will be something for the perpetrators, their families, and their country to be ashamed of and regret forever. Long may they live!

Sharrone Clay

Wendover Drive

According to recent testimony in a Senate hearing on Army Gen. Antonio Taguba's report on the torture of Iraqi prisoners, an evangelical Christian, Gen. William Boykin, is believed to be the one who recommended ways for the Pentagon to "soften up" Iraqi prisoners. We know that "soften up" is the term used by military intelligence in Abu Ghraib prison to promote the use of torture techniques to MPs.

General Boykin was previously under review for saying his God was superior to that of the Muslims in speeches last year.

Also, members of a reported al-Qaeda group declared "God is great" at the beheading of an American civilian in Iraq.

So evidently we have dueling Gods, both of whom authorize the use of violence and torture for human goals and desires.

So, which God will turn out to be the greater God?

Likely, the one who demonstrates enough power to win this brutal game.

Grant Lawrence

Waterville

Some members of the New York City Police Department got their jollies by sodomizing a Haitian immigrant with the handle of a toilet bowl plunger. Their superiors claimed a few "bad apples" had slipped into their ranks.

When the dawn of a new day burst upon the Catholic Church and pedophile priests scampered like cockroaches for the cover of darkness, the religious hierarchy claimed a few "bad apples" had slipped through the cracks.

Now it's the military's turn to defend its sexual embarrassment. And what are the commanding officers saying? You guessed it, a few "bad apples" are responsible.

We have been feeding our children a steady diet of sex and violence for generations. Through video games, movies, music, and pornography the United States has been parading its violent, vulgar mind before the world. We do not fuel these billion-dollar industries with a few bad apples.

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man (nation) reaps what he (it) sows, the Bible says. We either need to start sowing some better seed or prepare to eat some bitter fruit.

Don Gozdowski

Franklin Avenue

The world is our mirror. As such, we view the world as we view ourselves. The photos of the abusers of the Iraqi prisoners is a reflection of the dark potential that exists in all of us, a side of us that we do best to control through human will or religious faith.

Americans were horrified by the photos of prisoner abuse. It is good that we reacted with horror when the world reveals to us the injustice, the evil, and the insanity that continue to plague us. It's good because it demonstrates that our core is unchanged and will always be of light and love, attributes that led to making America the land of the free and the brave.

The dark forces continue their fight, but America will always remain a beacon of light for freedom. Energy follows attention. Let us not focus our attention on the darkness. Let us focus on the light and a better tomorrow for ourselves and our children. The energy will follow, and the day will come when we look into the mirror of the world and see only light reflecting back.

Steven Gaynor

Sylvania

Did I miss something? Was there an apology by any Iraqi, or Arab anywhere, for the killing, mutilation, hanging, burning, and dragging of four Americans?

Lewis Marenberg

Sandusky

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